Coming into this season, Montclair Kimberley had not defeated a member of the Super Essex Conference’s powerful American Division in senior Rob Pannullo’s career.

Now, the Montclair school has knocked off two American Division teams in a span of seven days, sending the state’s oldest and most storied tournament into upheaval in the process.

Fifteenth-seeded Montclair Kimberley continued its improbable run in the 81st Greater Newark Tournament with a 7-5 triumph over seventh-seeded Bloomfield yesterday in Bloomfield.

"No one expected us to be here," said Pannullo, who was 2-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run and pitched the final three innings in relief. "Everyone writes off the small private school. No one expects us to make a run."

The victory sends MKA into today’s 11 a.m. semifinal against Montclair, the defending GNT champion, at Doc Goeltz Field in Verona. Montclair Kimberley, which has never won a GNT title, will be making its first appearance in the tournament’s semifinal round since 2002 and just its second in school history.

"I think these kids are a bunch of competitors," Montclair Kimberley coach Ralph Pacifico said. "They've worked hard all year. I'm very happy for the kids."

A 15th seed getting to the GNT semifinals is not unheard of – West Essex accomplished the feat in 2006 en route to winning the tournament championship – but Montclair Kimberley is the first to do so under the current tournament format, in its third year.

Montclair Kimberley had to win play-in games over Shabazz and Science Park just to earn the 15th seed and get into the traditional 16-team field, where it stunned second-seeded Millburn, No. 13 in The Star-Ledger Top 20 at the time and Bloomfield's American Division counterpart, in last weekend’s first round. It is the first team to advance to the semifinals from the play-in round.

As it did against Millburn in the first round, Montclair Kimberley (9-10) jumped on Bloomfield early and often. Matt McAuliffe crushed a two-run shot with two outs in the second inning to get MKA on the board with a 2-0 lead. Three more runs then came in the third thanks to a two-run double by Pannullo and a Bloomfield error that allowed a run to score.

"This was the game where we had to come out and show people we mean business," McAuliffe said. "We can compete with any other team."

Bloomfield (10-10) battled back with three runs (two unearned) in the home half of the inning, getting to freshman left-hander Conor Nolan. But Nolan (5-1) settled down and worked around two hits in the fourth to keep Bloomfield off the board and get the ball to Pannullo.

Nolan, who allowed three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in his outing, also had an RBI single in the fourth to make it 6-3. Pannullo added an RBI double in the seventh after Bloomfield had pulled to within 6-4 in the sixth.

Pannullo didn't have his best stuff, walking three and allowing two hits against just one strikeout, and fielding miscues did not help his cause. As a result, he found himself in a handful of jams. Montclair Kimberley got out of them, including a situation that saw Bloomfield put the tying run on base in the seventh, to move on as Bloomfield left seven runners on in total for the game.

McAuliffe was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs to go with the home run. Joe Amato was 2-for-3 with a run for Montclair Kimberley. Anthony Garner paced the Bloomfield offense, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run. Michael Murray and Sal Santora each had an RBI.